Update

     Hey Everyone!

     

     This week was great! We have still be teaching lots of people and trying to help them access the power of the atonement. Preach My Gospel says that the most important thing we can teach people during their conversion is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Why? It's because that's the process people need in their lives in order to change. The word change is synonymous with the word repentance, that essentially is what repentance is. When people act on faith, repent, are baptized by proper authority, receive the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost, and faithfully endure to the end, they can constantly have access to the enabling power of the atonement. It all relates back to the fact that God loves us, and he wants us to change and become like his son Jesus Christ. 

     We have been focusing on this concept with all of our investigators. Doing this will help them receive a desire to change, and be baptized, and eventually enter into the temple. 

     I love serving here it is the best. I won't be driving the mini van much longer though! They are pulling a lot of cars out of our mission because the general authorities have ordered it. They have noticed that in Utah missions areas are more successful without cars. There will only be 23 cars left in our mission by next week, and trust me, that means they are pulling a ton of cars. The only areas that will have cars are some of the bigger areas in our mission (like YSA areas and bigger Spanish/Tongan areas). Things have been changing a lot here lately, but once everything settles down a bit the work will go on as always. Honestly, Elder Strother and I don't really need a car for proselyting purposes anyways, we have a pretty small area.

     I heard that LeBron torched the Hawks last night! Wow, so LeBron is just carrying the team all by himself right now. I'm assuming the Warriors are going to win the West tonight? I still think Cleveland can take them though, GS has nobody that can guard LeBron James. JR Smith and Kyrie can guard Klay Thompson and Steph Curry, but who is going to stop LeBron? Iguodala is out of his prime and Harrison Barnes is too small. Haha good luck GS, the only way GS will win that series is if their bigs outplay the Cavs bigs.

     Freak I miss playoff ball so much hahaha but it's good to hear that LeBron is still playing awesome. He will let everyone know in the finals who should've won the MVP this year 

     I love all of you and thank you so much for your love and prayers. I truly can feel them everyday and I'm so grateful for the miracles and blessings I see everyday. I can testify that Christ lives and he loves us with a never ending love.

     Love,

     Elder Strate

Service

     This was posted on the Missionary Mommas page today.
"I was not going to be "one of those moms"... ever, especially when my missionary is not even gone yet. Yet today, there they were, in my parents home in SLC, helping move and there I was, dragging out my phone camera explaining I needed to post pictures to their moms. My father has been inactive many years. These young men came ready to serve with no judgment, but only love. How grateful I am for their kindness to my parents. I have been praying for my father's heart to soften. Today went a long way towards that. Salt Lake Mission, Meadowview Ward"

To the temple

Hey everyone!                                                                                                             May 18, 2015

            Last Saturday I went to the Bountiful Temple and went through in Spanish. I got to go because a lady that Elder Firpo and I reactivated in Bountiful went and got her endowment! It was such a blessing to be there! I love the temple, and it's such a blessing in this mission to have the chance to go to the temple with recent converts and reactivated members. 

     Her name is Anahis Guevara. She is the Mom of the Venezuelan kids we baptized back in February.
     I can't want till some of the recent converts I've had on my mission can go through the temple and receive the same blessings that we receive. That's building up the kingdom of God on earth, getting people to the temple. When we do that, they can produce more fruit with their testimonies and conversion which creates a never ending growth to the Restored Church of Jesus Christ! I loved it, it was such an amazing experience.

            I love it here in Rose Park. The North Star Ward is awesome and the members are great! We have been getting more members out with us for lessons lately, which is great! When the members are involved in the work it takes a heavy load off of our shoulders. Extra witnesses always help, but more importantly our investigators can make a true friend.

            Christ said this in John 15:15-16 

15 Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you 

friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.

 16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.

Christ has not just assigned us as missionaries and as members of the church to be his servants, but also to be his friend. That is why we must continually pray and read the scriptures so we can strengthen our friendship with Christ. When we bring fellowship to our investigators they feel that same bond, therefore making their relationship with Christ stronger. If we do that, the fruit will remain. 

            Elder Strother and I had a great week, it was full of miracles and blessings. We got a referral yesterday and his name is Ever Campos, and he is supposed to be solid according to the source so we will contact him today and see what is up. We have been teaching some Part Member families and also a new investigator family, the Luna Family. They are amazing, and we should see them get baptized either at the end of this month of the start of next month. Using the I-Pads has been such a blessing in my life so far, technology is a great gift that God has given us and if we use it the way he wants us to, the work will definitely hasten. It's been cool getting to use a touch screen again too, I haven't used one of those for a while- Haha. Have a great week and keep fulfilling your calling and covenants. I know when we live our covenants and fulfill our duties the Lord will influence our lives.

            Love,

                        Elder Strate

Great week

Hey guys!

     It was awesome to skype with my family yesterday, family is such an amazing blessing that we all have! I love mine so much and I'm so grateful for all of their support!

     I had a great week, we found a new family, the Luna Family, and they are solid. They were at church on Sunday and I gave a talk on Mother's Day, it was an awesome day! We have found some new investigators that we can work with, I'm really excited for the upcoming weeks.

     We are also getting I-Pads tomorrow so the work here will be changing soon! 

I love it here and I love the people I am working with! I heard that LeBron put a nail into every Bulls fan's hearts yesterday, that's good to hear :) haha. Cavs and Clippers in the finals I'm telling you guys! But I also heard that the Flames got knocked out so that makes me sad... oh well.

     Good luck and may the Lord bless our lives as we do his will. I know that if we do his will and submit ourselves to him we will receive blessings and miracles daily.

     Love,

     Elder Strate

                                 Elder Rogers and Elder Jensen, some missionaries that I live with

Mother's Day

Dawson and Derek were able to Skype at the same time so they could visit with each other. We had Great Grandma Strate, Grandpa and Grandma French and Grandpa and Grandma Strate over to visit with them too.

Loving Life

Hi everyone!

     I don't have a ton of time, we have a busy P. Day scheduled ahead of us so I'll write quick! We had a good week, it was tough but I still enjoyed it. Lot's of our investigators dropped appointments and we had struggles getting members to come out with us, but it was still a good week. I've been asked to speak in sacrament meeting this Sunday so hopefully I'll be able to help the members see that I'm not such a scary guy haha. We'll see what happens though. 

     We are having meetings about I-Pads this Tuesday! I'm so excited it's going to be sweet.

     I'm picking this for the next round of the NBA playoffs. Grizzlies over Warriors in 6. Clippers over Rockets in 6. Cavs over Bulls in 7. And Wizards over Hawks in 6. I know a bit of crazy predictions, but I feel like the Clippers are a powerhouse right now, Griffin and Paul are going to destroy the Harden and Howard duo. It's going to be cool to see what happens! Losing Love definitely hurts the Cavs, but LeBron's been carrying teams his whole career so this is nothing new for him.

     I can't wait to skype on Mother's day, it's going to be awesome! I hope we all realize what a blessing Mother's are in our lives. When God created the World, he gave Adam a wife Eve, who was there to help him and support him. We need to sustain the Mother's in our lives just as much as we sustain the Father's in our lives.

     Dad, to answer your questions - We are the zone leaders over the Rose Park Zone, which has English and Spanish missionaries. We don't have any just english or just spanish zones, every zone has English and Spanish areas due to the needs of the local stake Presidents. Some Zones have Tongan and Samoan areas too, but our zone has 2 districts and each district has like 10ish people. Our zone is pretty small compared to normal because lately our mission has been losing more missionaries than we have been gaining, so areas have been combining and some have been closing down. Hopefully the Summer rush will kick in and we'll get a bunch of new missionaries this summer, otherwise it will be interesting to see what happens. It's awesome, love it so far.

     Love,

     Elder Strate